A shot of the Fulcrum alongside the Military and Manix :
The Fulcrum IID from Extrema Ratio weighs 200 grams with a 1/4" thick sabre ground blade from 58 HRC stainless steel of a non-specific composition. The handle is 1.5 cm thick and 3.0 cm wide, very boxy, similar in shape to the Buck/Strider folder.
This one is bought used and has been sharpened, the edge is about 0.034-0.036" thick, measurement shows it to be 20 +/- 1 degrees, a few passes on the 20 on the Sharpmaker rods won't cleanly cut the bevel but hits most of it, so it is likely just slightly over.
Push cutting the 3/8" hemp required 50 (2) lbs. Pointing sections of hardwood dowel the Fulcrum was very inefficent, this is simply one of the worse cutting knives seen to date.
The point on the Fulcrum is quite thick, it tapers for 1.025" at an angle of 7.0 degrees and is 0.725" wide at the back of the point. It reaches a depth of 115 +/- 6 pages with a 50 lbs push into a phonebook, and 477 +/- 12 pages with a hard vertical stab. The point penetration is also among the lowest seen on a fodler and even fixed blade, the point is just very thick. The handle was also very uncomfortable due to the squarish nature and the slick surface lowered security to an insignificant level.
In the kitchen the Fulcrum could readily cut light foods which just need a sharp blade like green onions :
It also easily handled fish, steaking up herring :
and taking the heads off some caplin with equal ease as a Vapor and small Sebenza :
and cut up a few tea buns :
The thick profile was useful in hacking parts of frozen ground beef apart :
However cutting thicker vegetables was problematic, onions could only be crudely chunked :
Attempting to dice up some carrots, while the Japanese utility knife took about 3 lbs, the Fulcrum just cracked off pieces with about 13 lbs. In cutting up a block of cheese, similar force was required :
Thus in short, as long as it is properly sharpened, the Fulcrum IID can cut meats, breads, and thick vegetables and soft fruits, but can only crudely chunk up thick vegetables and takes a lot of force and will crack them rather than make thin slices.
The Fulcrum IID was used for a wide range of tasks in an rural enviroment to evalute its performance on many types of vegetation.
On light grasses and weeds, the Fulcrum handles the cutting easily as this just requires a sharp edge. A long blade would be more productive, but given adequate vegetation it is only a few minutes work to gather a large armful for thatching or bedding material :
However, on woods the performance suffers due to the thick profile. The following shot shows the respective chopping ability of the Fulcrum compared to the Manix from Spyderco :
With its high flat grind and thin and acute edge the Manix is able to cut a much larger piece of wood in a single hit than the Fulcrum. Of course the thicker profile of the Fulcrum makes it a much better prybar and makes the edge much more durable in extremes.
Using a small axe handle with hard swings from the shoulder, due to the severe wedge shape of the Fulcrum it had difficulty in cutting even small and soft woods. On some Alders for example, even an inch thick stick was problematic. The Fulcrum would get half way and wedge badly due to the grind, in comparison the Manix cuts it easily with far less energetic swings.
The lock on the Fulcrum IID however was stable under the impacts, which did loosen the clip.
On some light metal, the Fulcrum easily made the cuts :
however the edge visibly rolled and chipped.
It was was also on hand during a renovation project fixing up an old barn. It readily cut TYVEK paper, and trimmed clapboard, as well as cut shims for windows. It also had the necessary prying strenth necessary for removal of some of the older woods and was in general more versatile than a Vapor during the job.
The scope of work of the Fulcrum moves far outside of simple cutting as the blade and overall build are very robust so heavy prying is not a problem. It easily takes very heavy digging in lumber without even significant blade flex :
It was also used to bore holes in woods by simply twisting it to make a pseudo-drill. The lock was strong and stable enough to take full force twisting with no effect.
In general as the cutting ability of the Fulcrum was so low the edge retention was not overly significant because the knife simply would not cut well even when sharpened. In any comparions to other folders it would lose tremendously due to the massive difference in profile.
In regards to the corrosion resistance of the steel, the Fulcrum IID was compared to a Manix on Rhubard and did well able to withstand the very acidic food and suffer minimal blunting : ref.
The steel in the Fulcrum IID machines easily enough so there is no problem in removing metal, however the thick and obtuse edge means a lot of metal has to be removed and the edge is too obtuse to work well with most v-rod settings. The large thumbstuds also get in the way with benchstone honing. All of this aside, it takes a fine edge with minimal burr formation.
One of the least ergonomic grips seen, boxy with lots of high pressure points. It is also fairly slick and due to the angle of the integral guard, ramping over it is not difficult even in a clean grip. Grip wise, it is pretty much the same in regards to ergonomics regardless of orientation, it really isn't any worse no matter how it is held :
The only real drawback versatility wise is a lack of a choil prevents a high grip for precision work :
Though it could be argued that this really isn't the type of work it is made to do. Due to the thumb serrations along the spine, it does make a nice club when closed in a hammer grip :
In an attempt to turn the Fulcrum into more of a knife, the primary grind was fully lowered eliminating the secondary edge :
Even with this modification the cutting ability on ropes, cardboard, woods, thick plastics, rubber or heavy synthetics is many to one other knives seen, even the more robust tacticals.
The lock back on the Fulcrum is secure under various heavy white knuckle grips as well as fast and heavy spine whacks . It also is stable under very heavy dynamic cutting and torques.
This really isn't a knife as much as it is a prybar / poker with an edge. It is easily one of the strongest blades seen and the lock is also very solid, but its functionality as a knife is severely limited. Even with the edge reprofiled the primary grind and stock is simply way to thick to allow a decent level of cutting ability. However for tasks which demand heavy prying and especially a lot of tip loading this knife will stay in one piece where a lot of other folders and even fixed blades could crack.
Comments can be emailed using cliffstamp[REMOVE]@cutleryscience.com or by posting in the following thread on Bladeforums :
| Last updated : | 12 : 01 : 2005 |
| Originally written: | 05 : 19 : 2005 |